THURSDAY, JUNE 27 @ 2:00 PM ET
So what did Rick end up doing? At the end of Casablanca, he walks off with Louie, vowing to get back in the fight. And he does. In the movies, that is. Humphrey Bogart, that is. In the next two years, Bogart goes to sea in Action in the North Atlantic (1943), commands a tank in the African desert in Sahara (1943), and drops bombs with the French Resistance air corps in Passage To Marseille (1944) — before returning to the role of world-weary-resolutely-neutral-stoic-won-back-over-to-the-cause figure in To Have And To Have Not (1944). (He also did a hilarious cameo in Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943), where, as an unshaven and unkempt Phillip Marlowe, he gets upbraided by S. Z. Sakall, possibly the least macho individual in 1943 Hollywood)
Sahara is set in the desert of North Africa in June of 1942. Sargeant Joe Gunn (Bogart) and his crew of two (Dan Duryea and Bruce Bennet) and their tank Lulu Belle are separated from their unit, and have just received orders to retreat south to re-form their lines. As they proceed South they acquire a series of passengers: a group which includes 3 Brits, a South African and a French freedom fighter; a Senegalese soldier with an Italian prisoner; and finally, a German fighter pilot that they shoot down and capture.
It occurs to me that the arc of this film is not unlike Hitchcock’s Lifeboat (1944) set in the desert. A diverse group of individuals is thrown together with the common goal of survival. In this case, they’re all soldiers, but they nevertheless have similar issues. As the film progresses, their differences emerge. And as in Lifeboat, there is a third party to be contended with. The German’s are the underlying threat, but the most immediate nemesis is environmental: where the survivors in the lifeboat look to escape the water, the Sahara group is motivated primarily by the search for water. Unfortunately, the Germans have the same idea. The film turns on the question of whether, having discovered a meager source of hydration, this rag-tag group of nine should continue their ordered retreat, or to stay and fight the approaching Wehrmacht force of 500. Delaying their advance will help the war effort,
but would certainly be a suicide mission.
Director Zoltan Korda, Oscar-nominated cinematographer Rudolph Maté and Art Director Lionel Banks do a good job of communicating the experience of desert warfare: the endless arid vistas of sand dunes, the faces of the parched soldiers. In one sequence, Waco is seen trying with his last bit of effort trying to “swim” up a dune.
It’s easy to see Sgt. Joe Gunn of Sahara as an extension of Casablanca’s Rick. Like Rick, he’s vague about his background. Rick responds to a question about his nationality with the declaration “I’m a drunkard.” When asked where he’s from, Joe replies “No place. Just the army.” He’s emotionally reserved, even hard-boiled. How hard boiled is he? He’s so hard boiled that he makes the ruthless but necessary decision to abandon an Italian POW in the desert in order to preserve valuable food and water. And then he relents. Shades of Rick helping the young girl’s husband win at the roulette wheel.